Real estate rundown week for the week ending Sept. 22, 2023

NAR report finds elevated home prices, mortgage rates and limited inventory as homebuying barriers

The National Association of Realtors announced a pair of reports that identified high home prices and mortgage rates, as well as limited inventory, among the top barriers to prospective home buyers across races and ethnicities.

To compile the reports, NAR partnered with business intelligence firm Morning Consult and surveyed Realtors who focused on residential real estate as well as prospective buyers.

NAR’s Realtor survey found reasons buyers were not purchasing homes included:

• Limited inventory — 34%
• Higher mortgage rates — 18%
• Elevated home prices — 9%

The organization’s home buyers survey found that 15% of white respondents were waiting for mortgage rates to drop.

Across races and ethnicities, the same study discovered elevated prices served as the primary reason prospective buyers were not purchasing homes. The breakdown by race includes:

• Asian — 27%
• Hispanic — 24%
• Black — 20%
• White — 15%

“Home buyers face the most difficult affordability conditions in nearly 40 years due to limited inventory and rising mortgage interest rates,” said Jessica Lautz, NAR’s deputy chief economist and vice president of research. “The impact is exacerbated among first-time buyers who are more likely to be from underrepresented segments of the population.”

Susan Dowling joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices C. Dan Joyner Realtors as a sales associate in the company’s Simpsonville office.

She has 20 years of experience in physician recruitment.

Tarah O’Sullivan joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices C. Dan Joyner Realtors as a sales associate in the company’s Woodruff at Five Forks office.

She has a background in business marketing, management, nonprofit work and biochemistry.

O’Sullivan is also CEO and founder of the Drake Rayden Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on research for children with rare diseases.